The Firearm Blog

Winchester has added the Varmint HE 3/1 Segmenting expansion bullet to its line of .22 LR ammunition. This mean looking 37 grain hollowpoint bullet splits into four pieces upon impact. Three forward segments split off to the side, inflicting damage, and a rear core penetrates.

The round has a velocity of 1435 fps.

This round will compete with the CCI Segmented Hollow Point round, which has a lighter and higher velocity bullet that splits into three pieces on impact. Winchester's bullet should have better penetration because bullet is heavier and the core of the does not split up.

A reader emailed me this photo of a Bolivian solider carrying a strange firearms and asked what weapon he was carrying.

I was unable to identify it but Tony Williams, our resident ammunition expert, was. It is a Chinese QLZ-87 35mm grenade launcher.

According to Guns.ru, this fully automatic grenade launcher, like the AR-15, using a direct gas impingement system. It uses 6-round or 15-round drum magazines. The 'light' configuration, pictured above, weighs 26 lbs.

[ Many thanks to Tony for providing identification. ]

[ Many thanks to Norm for emailing me the photo. ]

Shorpy has a very high resolution photo showing the Smith & Wesson factory in Springfield, Massachusetts circa 1908. The below photos is just a thumbnail. Click through to see the full size photo.

[ Many thanks to Hudson for emailing me the link. ]

New from Federal is the 20 gauge Heavyweight Turkey shotshells ...

New 20-gauge MagShok Heavyweight turkey loads are ideal for young hunters and shooters who prefer less recoil. These shells provide 40% less recoil than 3-inch loads--but remain just as lethal in the field. The payload of 250 #7 HEAVYWEIGHT pellets equals the energy of #5 lead at 40 yards.

The muzzle velocity is perfect for down-range performance at 1100 feet-per-second. And the rear-braking FLITECONTROL® wad delivers tight patterns for added lethality.

[ Y-Man, our resident Nigerian shotgunner, continues his series of guest articles about his quest to build the perfect shotgun. Being one of the lucky few in Africa to legally own a gun, he has to fabricate many parts and ammunition himself because supplies of gun parts are so limited. You can read Part 6 here. ]

Hi y’all, long time no see, as we say here! I have been regaling you with stories of my adventures with my shotgun, and my stock, sight, and ammunition improvisations. This is another update, I hope you enjoy it.

I got really frustrated with the slug designs I had been working on and using because accuracy degenerated terribly. I think I finally know why the accuracy of my original slugs, and all the different versions I came up with too over the last few months, went downhill.

The authors now-broken Turkish EFE Magnum Semi-Auto Shotgun

I cast those slugs at about .660”. They were Foster style slugs, slotted into the shotcups and they worked reasonably well: groups of 2" at 35-40 yards.

I fired them out of my Turkish EFE Magnum Semi-Auto Shotgun. Good shotgun, but it had substandard parts. Sadly, within a year, the firing pin broke. I discovered the shotgun was a discontinued model and manufactured by a small company in Turkey so ordering the replacement was out. I thought of repairing but the restrictions we have here stopped me from trying to locally fix it. So I dumped it.

But I was able to use part of the barrel to improvise a "Bore-size" Slug mould.

Then I got my Mossberg 500A, it cost almost $3,000 (Three thousand dollars!)

I started firing my slugs out of that and noticed accuracy going downhill! I was using the "Bore-size" Slug mould from the Turkish gun's barrel.

I recently got some brass balls of exactly .729". I did some experimenting, and discovered that while the balls would slide easily (Loosely) down the bore of the Mossberg, when I tried sliding the same ball down the barrel of the Turkish shotgun: it would not go in at all.

Obviously that Turkish gun was choked, while the Mossberg is straight cylinder (No choke). No wonder I was getting the kind of accuracy I was getting from the Turkish gun. I got really frustrated with the lack of accuracy on the slugs, I went through so many designs without luck or success, so I did some more research, and decided to go the round ball route (basically with smooth round ball slugs to fire out of smoothbore shotguns). Round balls are known to be reliable and consistent out to 50 yards. I did a LOT of research.

Firstly, I improvised a round ball mould, by drilling out 2 half-spheres in steel pieces, then aligning them.

1.Y-man's Locally fabricated Round Ball Mould

It worked, but produced a rough ball, which I then needed to file down to shape. Continue Reading »

FN Herstal has developed a 40mm grenade launcher sighting system called the FN Fire Control Unit (FN FCU).

FN FCU mounted on FN SCAR

The FCU is mounted on a picatinny rail above the launcher. A laser range finder calculates the distance to the target and a clinometer measures the angle/elevation to the target. A ballistic computer then calculates the required angle of fire and a red dot sight is moved to point at the correct aiming point. The cant indicator will tell the operator if the weapon is canted and require realignment.

As you can see in the photo, iron sights and/or optics can still be used. This system could be used on standalone launchers or under-barrel launchers.

It looks good in theory, as do other 40mm laser sighting systems, but I have heard from various readers that one system, the H&K M320 laser sighting system, is not very useful in the field and I wonder if the problems with that system also apply to the FN FCU. Back in 2008 Sean wrote ...

I was a grenadier in the Army and deployed to Afghanistan in ’06 where they tried to foist that sight on us, and to a man, we hated it. firing a 203 is easy; couple of trips to the range, you’re good to go. it’s just about learning angles and distances and generally being comfortable with the weapon. once you’re there, you can fire, as a guess, 20 or so accurate rounds a minute. that sight cuts that in half. i don’t know much about the 320, but that sight has got to go.

Sean elaborated here.

New from Winchester ...

The new Model 1886 features a deeply-blued receiver, barrel and lever, along with a matching blued steel end cap and steel crescent buttplate. The stock is Grade 1 walnut with an elegant satin finish. The full-length tubular magazine holds six 45-70 Govt. cartridges.

Each Model 1886 comes with an adjustable rear buckhorn style sight and a gold bead Marble Arms® front sight, giving the rifle a graceful profile. The receiver is also drilled and tapped to accommodate other receiver sights.

The Model 1886 has an overall length of 43 inches and weighs 8 3/8 pounds. The rate of twist in the barrel is 1 in 20 inches.

MSRP is $1,269.

DoubleTapper has followed up the review did he did back in 2010 of the FAB Defense KPOS Glock Carbine Kit.

DoubleTapper says ...

I personally find the KPOS to be both comfortable to shoot, and extremely useful.

United States, Australians, New Zealanders and Singapore soldiers got together at the Tarin Kot base in Afghanistan to play with each others toys. Army.mil reports ...

A Singaporean soldier gives an overview of the SAR 21 rifle to a group of US Army Soldiers

TARIN KOT, Afghanistan -- AK-47 rifles, Squad Automatic Weapons, Steyr AUG models, M-4 carbines and even the Singaporean SAR 21s were up for test fire during a weapons familiarization range Mar. 11, at Multi-National Base Tarin Kot, Uruzgan province, Afghanistan.

Combined Team Uruzgan sent an open invitation to all nations of Multi-National Base Tarin Kot to receive instruction on and shoot different small arms weapons from Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and the United States.

The range featured all of the respective militaries' major hand guns, assault rifles and light machine guns, said Sgt. 1st Class David Bergman, provost marshal for Combined Team Uruzgan.

Since most operations in Uruzgan province are an international effort, the range was ultimately an exercise in awareness, Bergman said.

[ Many thanks to Lance for emailing me the link. ]

New from MasterPiece Arms is the .380 Premium Protector. The two-toned pistol features a blued frame with an aluminum grip. The grips are fully machined aluminum with a bead blasted finish that is protected by a clear anodize coating. I really like the look.

Like MasterPiece Arms' other Protector pistols, the Premium Protector has a 5+1 capacity. The MSRP is $345.